Millions of taxpayer dollars in Maryland fund state employees' cars and trucks for use 24/7. The WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team tracked whether the vehicles are necessary for the job or whether they're just a perk.

Advertisement

Related Content

The I-Team requested from more than three-dozen state agencies the names and titles of employees who have take-home vehicles, in addition to information related to their cost and, in some cases, how often the vehicles are legitimately used to respond to an emergency.

Across 36 state agencies, 1,284 state employees have take-home cars at a cost of $3.9 million a year in fuel, maintenance and insurance. What's not included in that number is the 1,550 state troopers who take marked police cars home, giving many communities a welcomed police presence.

There are 142 additional employees at the State Police, including civilian employees, who have take-home vehicles at a cost of $455,000 per year.

The state Health Department provides 62 take-home cars, and the Maryland Lottery offers 59 such cars. Two officials in the state Planning Department were deemed to need take-home cars, although they do pay a commute charge, Miller reported.

High-ranking officials get cars and drivers

Maryland's top officials don't just get a car, they also get a driver.

Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who lives in Bethesda, uses a Ford Fusion hybrid that taxpayers provide for her, and a state trooper serves as her driver, Miller reported.

Kopp's commute is about 90 miles round-trip. She told Miller she pays none of the cost because the car is maintained by the state.

The state's comptroller, attorney general, speaker of the House and Senate president also have a car and driver. The lieutenant governor and governor have whole security details. All of them are among the highest paid in state government.

Their executive protection costs more than $4 million a year, Miller reported.

Kopp acknowledged that there might be questions these days considering tight budgets and taxes that just got raised.

"This is a question that comes up often over the years, as I'm sure you know. I, myself, was not eager to have a state trooper watching me all the time when I left the Legislature and became treasurer. But I accepted that that's the way it was done," Kopp said.

"The state of Maryland has laws about how you handle this kind of thing. They are set down by the Department of Budget and Management. We follow those policies," said Hans Riemer of the Montgomery County Council.

Many vehicles taken out of state

The take-home car findings took the I-Team out of state. Maryland has no rules that require employees with take-home vehicles to live in the state. As such, dozens of the vehicles are paid for by the Maryland taxpayer but the employees go home to, for example, Pennsylvania.

The I-Team found in one instance that two Maryland Transit Administration police officers used their state vehicle to travel the 44 miles from their home in York County, Pa., to their office in northwest Baltimore City.

The I-Team also found more than 30 take-home vehicles used by State Highway Administration employees who also live in Pennsylvania.

The SHA allows 533 employees to have take-home vehicles at a cost to the taxpayer for gas, insurance and maintenance of $1.3 million per year. The agency's administrator said it's all in the name of best serving the public.

"It's important that they are able to respond 24/7, nights and weekends to issues with our roadways," said SHA administrator Melinda Peters.

I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller asked Peters: "Is that reasonable for the Maryland taxpayers to pay for that commute if they're going out of state and the folks having these vehicles are paying their taxes out of state?"

"Well, I think, if you look at the small percentage of vehicles that you highlighted, the average distance they're driving across is about 7 miles," Peters said. "We certainly can't dictate where people live."

Montgomery County Councilman Hans Riemer led the charge to reform that county's take-home vehicle policy. His focus was about who really needs such a benefit.

"We reduced the fleet by a little more than a third," Riemer said. "If you report to the office in the morning, you don't need to take a vehicle home at night. You could pick up a fleet vehicle in the parking lot at your office."

BWI officials treated like first responders

At BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, 16 employees get take-home vehicles, 14 of whom pay no commuting fee because they are considered emergency response personnel. But the only place they report to is the airport, Miller said.

"In any sort of incident or major issue with the airport, they would be required and would need to respond and help deal with that," said BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean. He said the vehicles they're given have lights and radios.

"It's a requirement for these individuals. These are, in many cases, first responders. They are highly skilled, highly trained individuals who need to be at the airport in any situation," Dean said.

One of the take-home vehicles goes to the airport's manager of parking. Miller reported that he was called back to the airport four times in the past year. The manager of building maintenance was also called back four times.

The I-Team said it saw no lights or radio on the take-home vehicle for the manager of security, who was called back to the airport in off-hours only twice.